1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an apparatus control system provided with a function of connecting, via a network, a water heater (called as “apparatus”) such as an electric-power-controlled gas-fired water heater, an oil-fired water heater, an electric water heater, or a heat pump water heater, to a server, as well as an apparatus, and a computer-readable recording medium recorded with an apparatus control program.
2. Background Art
An example (e.g. see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-176681) of a conventional remote control system (apparatus control system) is described referring to FIG. 15. In FIG. 15, the remote control system includes a bath 801, a water heater 802, a remote controller 803, and a server 804. The remote controller 803 communicates with the water heater 802 to control operations of the bath 801 and the water heater 802. Also, the server 804 communicates with the remote controller 803 via a telephone line network 805 to control the remote controller 803 or to acquire status data concerning the water heater 802 under the control of the remote controller 803.
The conventional remote control system has the following drawbacks, which are not recited in the publication.
Specifically, the water heater is connected to the bath and various hot water taps or faucets. The plumbing layout differs depending on a layout of a house where the water heater is installed. Accordingly, installation of a water heater involves a work concerning thereto. Also, an apartment building equipped with an internet accessibility has been recently spread. In such an apartment building, a work of installing network-related devices such as a hub or a router for use in physically connecting the remote controller to a server, is required.
Whether or not the work relating to the installation of the water heater or the work relating to the network connection is ended first is unknown. Accordingly, it is extremely difficult to fix the order of the works. After the work relating to the installation of the water heater and the work relating to the network connection are ended, an operation relating to network setting and an operation relating to apparatus setting are necessary to remote-controllably use the apparatus installed by these works.
For instance, the network setting includes selection of an IP address assignment method, subnet mask setting, DNS setting, and access point URL list setting. The apparatus setting includes: confirmation as to whether the apparatus connected to the remote controller is normally operated; confirmation as to whether a command displayed on a screen of the remote-controller corresponds to the actual operation of the apparatus; confirmation as to whether the apparatus is operated in accordance with the command; and adjustment.
As mentioned above, the network setting and the water heater setting are different in expertise for work and/or setting, which may likely to involve respective setting operations by different workers or operators. In view of this, there is a demand for a function of letting the operators easily recognize an ongoing setting status, as well as a function of allowing the operators to perform the setting operations independently, and a function of notifying the server of completion of the respective setting operations upon the completion.
In the conventional art, the server has been notified merely of completion of the network-connection related work and the network setting. There has been no way of confirming whether the water heater installation work and the water heater setting have been completed. In a worse case, the operator may overlook that the water heater installation work and/or the water heater setting has been undone or has not been completed.